In the Scottish Courts
| Published date | 01 April 1941 |
| Date | 01 April 1941 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/002201834100500206 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
In the Scottish Courts
HOME
GUARD-RIGHT
TO FIREARMS
WITHOUT
CERTIFICATE
AB., a member of the Home
Guard
resident in Dundee, was
•charged, in a complaint at the instance of the Procurator-
Fiscal of the Sheriff Court, that, on a date specified, in his
house, he had in his possession a firearm, viz. arevolver and
ammunition, viz. five ·45 cartridges, to which Part 1of the
Firearms Act, 1937, applied, without holding a firearms
certificate, in contravention of section 1of the Act mentioned.
He pled not guilty and evidence was led.
It
was proved,
to the court's satisfaction, that the revolver and cartridges
had been handed on to A.B. by his son when the
latter-who
had formerly been in the Home
Guard-was
called up.
A.B.'s commander knew of his possession and approved of it.
No certificate was held by A.B., nor had his son had one.
The
attention of the police having been drawn to this state
of affairs, they determined to investigate, paid a visit to A.B.
at his home, and challenged him.
For
some reason, he at
first denied having any firearm or ammunition, but, on
being pressed, produced
them
from a drawer.
It
appeared
that A.B. was a bombing instructor in the Home
Guard
and
that arevolver and ammunition were essential to the proper
discharge of his duties. A revolver, not a rifle, was his
appropriate weapon.
In
support of his charge, the Procurator-Fiscal, while
conceding that A.B., as a
"person
in the service of His
Majesty
",
was entitled to 'possess firearms without acertificate,
took his stand on the qualifying words in section 5 of the
Firearms Act,
1937-"
in his capacity as such
"-and
argued
that A.B.'s
duty
was to keep his revolver
and
ammunition
143
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